During the Pleistocene, the valley of Cusco was an huge lake called Morkill, sheltered by a great variety of fish, mollusks and seaweed.

Over thousands of years, these species were disappearing, struggle for the survival of species.

At that time the Andes were populated by mastodons, glyptodonts and macrauquenias, American horses that became extinct before the appearance of the human being.

ROOM 02: FIRST PEOPLE IN THE CUSCO REGION

The first Andean settlers lived in caves, seeking protection from the cold, rain and other predators.

Rock painting is considered as the first form of art; and they exist in different places of the Cusco: Chawaytire (Calca), Virginniyoc (Espinar) or Qolqemarka (Chumbivilcas).

The ancestors made figures with their own hands and natural dyes obtained from plants or animal remains. These paintings remain to this day and are considered like a.world heritage

ROOM 03: THE REGIONAL STATES IN CUSCO

The settlement and cultural development of the Cusco valley began with the settlements of Marcavalle and Chanapata.

On these bases emerged cultures that covered larger territories. Qotakalli occupied the valley of Cusco between 200 and 600 AD, from this society there are few vestiges.

Like Marcavalle and Chanapata, his works stand out for their greater proximity to the stone and to the first settlers of the region.

ROOM 04: ART AND LITHIC INKA

The ancient Tawantinsuyo, was a civilization by the monumentality of its works, its social organization and its vertiginous expansion as a mythical and historical culture.

The room shows pieces dedicated to offering to the earth, apus (sacred mountains), mallquis (mummie´s representations) and ancestors, and to a wide range of deities strongly symbolized in elements of nature. It maintained a link with its natural environment, between human beings, mythological beings and ancestors.

In this collection highlights the sculpture of the qoa; mythical feline of cult, whose figure appears in numerous ceremonial objects.The Inkas managed different technologies for stone work, especially in diorite, andesite, limestone and quartz rock, reaching levels of perfection and durability, such as the constructions of Saqsaywaman, Tipón, Machupicchu, Choquequirao.

Among the sacred lithic objects, we find a set of illas and qonopas (propitiatory elements of the fertility of livestock and crops used in ritual ceremonies.) carved in quartz rock, iron oligisto, diorite, slate and andesite.

ROOM 05: INKA´S POTTERY

The Inkas assimilated the ceramic development achieved by the civilizations that preceded them, Wari and Tiahuanaco.

In the ceramic collection highlights the figure of ceremonial suche (Sculptural piece with a fish shape), its relationship with the cult of water and the transcendental importance of this fish for the prediction of climate and the fertility.

In this room we find objects from the regular use, such as plates, pots and pitchers, all these utensils show a high development in cooking and cooling techniques.

ROOM 06: INKA goldsmith and metalwork

The Inkas were fascinated by the goldsmith art, they represented in gold and silver the fauna and the flora that surrounded them, as it is appreciated in the sacred enclosures of the Qorikancha that were clad with idols and plates resplendent by the precious metal with which they were made.

This room exhibits a collection of tupus (ornament to hold the garment at chest height), valuable idols (sculptures of deities), including a characteristic pair of men and women, which highlights the attributes thatdistinguish as opposed and complementary beings. The Andean duality is represented in these gold miniatures.

SECOND LEVEL

ROOM 07: SANTIAGO MATAMOROS TO ILLAPA

With the arrival of the Spaniards in 1532, the disintegration of the Andean civilization begins. Manco Inka, royal heir, began in 1536 the campaign of reconquest, being the "Cerco del Qosqo"( historical event produced between Manco Inka´s army against the Spanish conquerors) the most important event in this process, highlighting the apocryphal apparition of the Virgin Mary and the patron Santiago, fighting for the Spaniards.

Defeated Manco Inka in Cusco, he retired to the region of Vilcabamba, from where they continued the process of resistance until the year 1572 when he was captured and executed the last royal heir, Tupac Amaru.

ROOM 08: ANCIENT AND NEW ARTS

At the end of the 16th century, prominent Italian masters such as Bernardo Bitti, Mateo Pérez de Alessio and Angelino Medoro, spread their artistic knowledge in America, with the purpose of evangelizing the Native Americans.

Much of the painting produced in America is inspired by engravings and European prints brought by priests. Later, elements of the pre-Hispanic atavistic memory are incorporated, thus creating a pictorial singularity of blend expression, called "Cusqueña School".

ROOM 09: GASTRONOMY AND THE PISCO: PERSISTENCE AND COEXISTENCE

The uses, customs and coexistence of our gastronomic tradition go back to an ancestral pre-Hispanic origin.

Amalgamated with other traditions, it gives rise to an innovative Creole and Novo-Andean cuisine, currently featuring the ingenuity of Peruvian chef masters such as Gastón Acurio, of Cuzco descent, among others, who endowed with exceptional creativity give the country the strategic component of the design of the country brand Peru in gastronomy.

Along with this gastronomic tradition, the quebranta grape pisco appears as the most eloquent sample of a miscegenation that enriches our culture. Pisco brandy, traditional drink of Peru and "flag product", nowadays offers the world its quality, of long lineage and its own roots.

ROOM 10: EVANGELIZATION

In the 16th century the decomposition of the prehispanic Andean ideology and religiosity began, imposing the Catholic Christian religion. The religious orders, whose purpose was to convert, using the artists to paint and sculpt images, as an important visual tool of evangelization.

The ultimate purpose of the invaders was to preach the gospel to the Indians, whom they considered unfaithful, subjecting them even with force and rigor.

ROOM 11: TÚPAC AMARU

On November 4, 1780, the most important anti-viceregal feat began, which triggered the capture and subsequent execution of the Spanish Corregidor José Antonio de Arriaga.

After a few months of military actions against the Spaniards, he was captured and tried, finally being executed in the Plaza de Armas of Cusco, before a silent crowd and in the presence of his relatives, who also Were executed.

During the interrogations to which he was subjected by the inspector Arreche, who was looking for Túpac Amaru to denounce his accomplices, he replied: "there are no accomplices here,you and me; you for oppressor, and I for liberator, we deserve death. "

ROOM 12: CUSQUEÑA COLONIAL STAY

The customs and European customs will be maintained throughout the viceroyalty. The dress of the ladies and men, the use of European-style furniture such as the cot Luis XV (wood carving, polychrome and gold with gold leaf, romantic style and Rococo decoration), among others.

A recurrent image in the religious iconography of the viceroyalty is the Holy Family, with the figure of the child Jesus and his parents as the central theme.

ROOM 13: MEMORY OF INKA GARCILASO DE LA VEGA

The image and memory of the illustrious chronicler of Cusco, was recreated by various artists, including Francisco Gonzales Gamarra.

His literary production has great relevance at national and global level.

"Although there have been curious Spaniards who have written the republics of the New World, such as those of Mexico and Peru and those of other kingdoms of that kindness, it has not been with the whole relationship that could be given, that I have noticed particularly in the things that I have seen written from Peru, of which, as a native of the city of Cozco, which was another Rome in that Empire, I have longer and clearer news than that which the writers have hitherto given ".

room destinated for artistic, cultural and research dissemination through temporary exhibitions organized by the museum's technical team, as well as local and national artists, guided by the technical and regulatory guidelines included in the TEMPORARY EXHIBITION ROOM TEMPORARY PROTOCOL….